Featured

Rob Peters

Affectionately known by locals as “little Germany”, because of its popularity with German tourists, Somerset West is a grand mix of wine farms, top–notch restaurants, majestic golf estates and adrenaline-inducing adventure activities. More of a town than a neighbourhood, you will need to set aside a couple of days to truly explore this beautiful area.

Featured

Rob Peters

On Saturday 28 March homes and businesses across the world will switch off their lights for an hour in support of Earth Hour. All across Cape Town, locals will lend their support by flicking the switch between 8.30pm and 9.30pm – here are 5 ways to celebrate Earth Hour in the Mother City.

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At the heart of responsible tourism is a new generation of responsible travellers who are seeking real, meaningful and authentic experiences and are in tune with responsible lifestyle practices such as buying fair-trade products and experiences, and supporting community tourism.
Cape Town has been working towards being a responsible and sustainable city and destination for many years and we have again seen an increase in responsible tourism awareness, products and practices at Indaba 2013.

Bloggers love South Africa – we know this from our #LoveCapeTown campaign. This campaign saw us bringing four international travel bloggers (@traveldudes @velvetescape @landlopers and @wildjunket) to Cape Town in July 2012 during a social media drive in which Capetonians interacted with the bloggers and their followers, telling the stories of Cape Town and her people.

The first call for projects to highlight Cape Town during World Design Capital 2014 is out. The Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Alderman Patricia de Lille, officially opened the call for World Design Capital Cape Town 2014 submissions at the Design Indaba Expo on Thursday 28 February, 2013.

Langa, South Africa’s oldest township, was established in 1923 as part of the then Urban Areas Act. Similar to Nyanga, Gugulethu and Khayelitsha, Langa is one of the areas in South Africa that was designated for black Africans before the apartheid epoch. The name Langa means “sun” in Xhosa, but the name of the area is actually derived from the name Langalibalele – a famous chief who was imprisoned on Robben Island for rebelling against the government.

A comment from a visitor to the Design Indaba, on what makes Cape Town a great design city. Photo courtesy Ingrid Sinclair
Hailed by thought leaders like Michael Wolff and Dana Arnett as the top international design conference in the world, Design Indaba has captured the city this week – the energy was palpable as delegates from all corners of the globe were welcomed into Cape Town’s creative heart. Not only was the city’s beauty and fabulous weather celebrated by speakers from abroad, but our people also clearly left an impression. Tim Beard of Bibliothèque, one of the UK’s top design agencies, said, “The warm hospitality of Cape Town is unsurpassed”

Photo by Skye Grove
The links between South Africa and Brazil can be drawn back a long way.
The seas that supposedly divide these two countries in some sense unite them. Both ancient ships and hi-tech yachts have charted their course along these ocean lines. Pedro Cabral, the 15th century Portuguese explorer, was on his way to the Cape of Storms (named so by Bartolomeu Dias, another Portuguese explorer of the age, and one of Cabral’s contemporaries) when he landed on the coast of Brazil.

Since 1988, World AIDS Day has been about raising money for, heightening awareness of, combating prejudice through and improving education around AIDS-related efforts. In 2010, Cape Town will be part of global efforts to raise awareness around HIV/AIDS, as part of both the (RED) and the Lights for Rights campaigns, by illuminating Table Mountain with red lights from 19h00 until midnight tonight.
The (RED) campaign raises money for the Global Fund, the biggest pot of money dedicated to overcoming AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, by co-branding products and releasing them in limited (RED) editions, donating up to 50% of the proceeds. One of the components of this campaign involves turning iconic landmarks around the world red. The initiative dovetails well with the Lights for Rights campaign, which places emphasis on “shining a light on human rights” in relation to HIV and AIDS, drawing global attention to the rights of those infected and affected by HIV.

Cape Town’s busy summer season is fast approaching and tourism authorities are gearing up for an upturn in business. An influx of tourists is expected on the back of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and the city is looking forward to welcoming visitors from South Africa and the rest of the world.

Jinga, Cape Town Tourism’s adopted African penguin. Photo by Skye Grove
Today, September 27, is World Tourism Day and the theme of this year’s celebration is “Tourism and Biodiversity”. African penguins are a familiar sight to Capetonians and visitors to our city alike, but it is alarming to know that the plight of these beloved seabirds is more critical than most of us realise.

As Portugal prepares to take on reigning European champions Spain at Cape Town Stadium tomorrow, coach Carlos Queiroz says that the team should learn from their 0-0 draw against Brazil in the group stages.
Queiroz says that his team loves Cape Town and feels like coming home here. They are hoping the outcome of tomorrow’s match will be similar to their crushing 7-0 victory over the People’s Republic of Korea last week.